Cuonzo (CON-zoe) Martin, former Associate Head Coach at Purdue University, officially took over the helm as Missouri State men's basketball head coach on April 1, 2008 and begins his second season as the Bears' head coach in 2009-10.

 Martin was introduced at a news conference on March 26, 2008 as the 16th head coach in the history of Missouri State, the 27th winningest NCAA Division I program in America. He inherited the program in its 100th anniversary season and the inaugural season in the $67 million, 11,000-seat JQH Arena.

 A native of East St. Louis, Ill., Martin was a star player at Purdue from 1991-95 for coach Gene Keady and then played four years professionally. He coached at Purdue for eight years under Keady and Matt Painter.

 In 2007-08, he completed his eighth year on the Purdue coaching staff, having been promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach in September of 2007.

 Martin, who graduated from Lincoln High in East St. Louis, and attended New Hampton (N.H.) Prep School, came to Purdue in 1991. He finished four years later as one of the finest Boilermaker players ever. He currently ranks 11th on Purdue's all-time scoring list with 1,666 points, good enough for a 13.1 average in his 127 games.

 His best year was his senior season, when he averaged 18.4 points per game while shooting 43.9 percent from the floor, 46.9 percent from three-point range and 79.9 percent from the free throw line.

 Martin was an emotional leader for the Boilermakers, as well as a long-distance specialist, compiling a 179-for-390 (.459) mark on three-pointers his last two years after going 0-for-7 from long range his first two seasons. He led the Big Ten in three-point shooting as a senior and was fourth in scoring while helping the Boilermakers to their second of three consecutive Big Ten titles. He also was named to Dick Vitale's All-Defensive team in 1995. During Martin's four years, Purdue was 90-37, including 54-12 the last two years, with a pair of Big Ten titles.

 Martin played professional basketball for four years, with brief NBA appearances with the Milwaukee Bucks (twice) and Vancouver Grizzlies. He spent most of his playing time in the Continental Basketball Association and Europe. He was team captain and leading scorer for three seasons with the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Hoops and was the leading scorer for the Felize Scandone team in Avellino, Italy, in 1997.

 After a four-year pro career, Martin completed his bachelor's degree in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management at Purdue in the summer of 2000.

 Missouri State was 11-20 in Martin's first year at the helm in 2008-09, but was 9-8 at JQH Arena, including wins over Arkansas, UALR, Arkansas State, Wichita State, Drake, and Evansville in addition to milestone road wins at Central Michigan and a thrilling buzzer-beating victory at UT Martin in the 2009 ESPNU BracketBusters.

 During his first campaign, the Bears ranked among the nation's top 20 most-improved programs in home attendance and finished 75th nationally in per-game attendance average. The Bears also boasted two Academic All-MVC performers, in addition to three other individual MVC awards.

 Coach Martin was born Sept. 23, 1971. He and his wife Roberta have two sons, Joshua and Chase, and a daughter, Addison.